Supreme Court to set up SIT to re-examine 186 cases from 1984 anti-Sikh riots

The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday decided to form a new three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-examine 186 cases from the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which took place in the country post former PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The new SIT will consist of a retired High Court judge and two IPS officers – one serving and one retired. On the recommendations of the new SIT, it will be decided as to which of the 186 cases need to be opened up again.

The decision of Supreme Court comes after two retired judges – KPS Radhakrishnan and JM Panchal – submitted a report on the old SIT, which the judges said closed 186 cases without even investigating. The judges were appointed by the SC in September 2017 to study the decision of the old SIT, which was formed by Narendra Modi’s government in February 2015.

The anti-Sikh riots in India took place after former PM Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. The bodyguards took the extreme step following Gandhi’s decision to allow Indian Army to conduct ‘Operation Blue Star’ in the Golden Temple in Punjab’s Amritsar to tackle the militant and religious leader Jarnail Singh Bindranwale.